But Freeport Police Chief Jerry Whitmore described the message as “a reiteration of the threat at the high school.”

On May 22, a Freeport High School student was arrested for allegedly writing the words “Beware 5-23 Bang” and 5-23 die” on the wall of a toilet stall in a girl’s bathroom. The threat at the Junior High included a different date.

The high school also received a bomb threat, which forced changes in tomorrow’s graduation ceremony.

“The feeling around here is that these things are the work of copy-catters,” he said.

Whitmore said the department takes the threat seriously. But he’s not putting much stock in it.

“[It] is no more credible than the one at the high school,” Whitmore said.

The junior high has nearly 700 students. Their last day will be June 3.

Parents unaware
Some parents were unaware the school had received a threat. Valerie Hale, who waited for her children — James and Rachel — after school didn’t know about it. But Hale didn’t give it much credence.

“I don’t think anything is going to come of [the threat],” she said.

Hale said it was a shame the threat had been made. She expressed her concern for everyone involved.

And Hale speculated about the perpetrator or perpetrators’ possible thoughts.

“They think they’re going to get away with it,” she said.

District 145 Superintendent Peter Flynn said SchoolReach — the district’s new automated messaging system — wasn’t fully in use at the time of the incident.

While Freeport Junior High Principal Scott Wiley intended to notify parents of seventh- and eighth-graders, only parents of eighth-graders got the message. Flynn said it was a system flaw that would be corrected.

“It’s easy to call all the parents,” he said.

Flynn said the threat was discovered after school Wednesday.

He stressed the new situation would have no effect on the high school’s ceremony Saturday.